21 November 2016
Day 20 - Monday
…and so to our
final full day in The Gambia. The three weeks have really gone quickly.
We set off to
Banjul this morning to visit Unity Nursery again (see day 14). We would like to
help with some projects there and asked the principal to let us have some estimates
to consider. We asked for estimates for three projects putting these in priority
order. We know they want to refurbish a building to convert it to a classroom. She
will do this and get them to Ann and Brian as soon as possible. If one or more
are acceptable we will be able to give them the money to proceed and hopefully
the work could be done by the time we come back in February.
On then to
Banjul Methodist LBS to take some photos and then to the Albert Market to see
Mohammed, the trader in the market who supplies some of our craft goods. We had
been told that he has been unwell for a couple of weeks but is back at work. He
is clearly still not right, so we advised him to see a doctor and bought him a
box of multi-vitamins to help with his general health.
We then visited
Gambia Senior Secondary School to take some photos and then to a compound to
pay some sponsorship monies.
Back then to
the hotel for a relaxing afternoon in the sun for the last time before the English
winter.
I think this
has been a very successful trip and we have all enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Our thanks to Wandifa, Yankuba and Abdoulie for all their hard work. Abdoulie has,
as ever been an absolutely brilliant driver.
I will post a
final blog when I am back in England along with some more photos. Pippa, Kathy
and I, with possibly some other Pageant members will be back in The Gambia in
February.
I have enjoyed
writing this blog and hope you have enjoyed reading it.
Andrew
The classroom
Unity Nursery wants to convert
Day 19 Sunday
A rest day
today. After a late start we went to Linda’s for a couple of hours where we
went through spreadsheets and money and advising Linda of what projects we
still have in hand, and how much is due to schools where they are taking place.
We also looked at what students fees were still to be paid, leaving Linda a
list.
Back at the
hotel we had a number of current and past sponsored children join us for a
drink. Some were paid their sponsorship money, others just for a chat. We also
took the details of one boy who wants to be sponsored.
Ann and Brian
arrived safely. 1½ hours late as they too, like us on the outward journey, had
to stop over at Las Palmas to refuel.
Tomorrow is our
last full day in The Gambia, so that will be my last blog from here.
As promised here's a photo of the team
Wandifa, Pippa, Abdoulie, Andrew,Yankuba and Linda
20 November 2016
Day 18 -
Saturday
A shortish day
today
We started at
The Water Point where we signed the contract for the borehole at Kani Kunda and
made the initial payment. They hope to start work no later than next Wednesday.
The school will be delighted.
Then to the
stationers to negotiate the purchase of the exercise books. The shop did not
have sufficient in store so some were sent for. We were told this would take an
hour, but we suspected this would be a Gambian hour.
We then went to
a compound for a short visit and then returned to the shop. Two hours after we
had first left we had loaded the car with all the books that could be found;
just over one half of those we needed. We may look to buy something else with
the rest of the money.
Back to the
hotel, picking up Linda on the way and we had our first ever formal Gambia Pageant
meeting with Abdoulie, Wandifa, Yankuba, Linda, Pippa and me there.
Among the
matters discussed were possible schools to visit for our Gambian Team to deliver
workshops, and also follow-up visits to schools where workshops had already
been carried out, together with the funding to do this. We also discussed ways of
encouraging parents to deliver the students’ third term reports on time so that
the team does not have to waste their time chasing them up when they have more
productive things to do.
We welcome Ann
and Brian Keating tomorrow who are coming over tomorrow for just over three
weeks. It will be good to be together if only for a short period
I had hoped to
take a photo of all the team at the meeting to publish here
but I forgot. I
will try again tomorrow when we are all together.
18 November 2016
Day 17 - Friday
A slightly
later start today to make up for yesterday.
We went first
to The Water Point. After some negotiation Mr Touray from the company agreed to
provide an additional two standpipes to the school at no extra cost to us. We
told him that on that basis we wished to proceed and will return tomorrow to
sign the contract and make the initial payment.
We then went to
buy some exercise books for Banyaka LBS mentioned in an earlier blog. We got a
quote from a supplier, but thought we would get one also from the shop that
usually supplies us. He wasn’t in so we left a message saying what we wanted
and will return tomorrow.
A quick call to
Bishop Dennis from King’s Kid Academy to tell him we had approved his latest
project and that we had the money to pay him. He happened to be in the
neighbourhood buying a new radiator for his car so he joined us, we paid him
and he rushed off to the bank.
We managed to
get in contact with the two students who went to SOS Senior Secondary but we
had lost contact with. I wrote in an earlier blog that Mr Drammeh, the former
principal of SOS had told us of their whereabouts. I am pleased to say that
both are doing very well. One has just finished a six-month internship at a
hospital laboratory where she gained experience in haematology and
microbiology. She has now applied to do nursing at the university. She will
hear if she is successful in about 3 weeks. The other has enrolled to study law
at the university and is enjoying her course. We will keep in touch with both
of them.
An early finish
today!
Day 16 -
Thursday
Upcountry
today. It is a long drive and we left the hotel at 5.30 with a packed breakfast
(thanks to the kitchen staff for this). During the day we heard that Mo Lamin
has been discharged from hospital. We were all pleased to hear this.
Once you get
beyond Brikama the road is very good, a new highway that is every bit as good,
or indeed better than your average British ‘A’ road. We made good progress only
being slowed down by the numerous police, army or immigration checkpoints, but
they were all in a good mood today.
We arrived in
good time at Soma, our main destination., Our first school was Misera Basic
Cycle, just out of Soma. It is right next to the border with Senegal, so close
that I think if one of the students there had given one of the footballs we had
brought a really good welly it would have landed in Senegal!
We were greeted
by the principal, Mr Modou S Faye. We were soon dignified by the presence of
two pillars of the community, the village imam and the village chief. All three
are delightful and enthusiastic people. We were there to give the school some
money to build a fence around the school (we would call it a wall). The fence
serves not only to protect the children, but also to keep out people and the
goats, sheep, cows and oxen that wander about
.
We also had brought
over the first two of many holdalls containing sports kit donated by Haslemere
Prep School when it closed. Each holdall contained a full kit of 12 football
shirts, shorts and socks, along with 2 match balls and 2 practice balls. 12 eager
young students were called for to try them on.
The school also
has a large garden so we were able to give them a selection of seeds donated my
Manor Green school.
After that we
were entertained by Grade 9 girls with a traditional song and dance and some
readings and a poem from senior students.
Misera school
is in a Fula village.We don’t often go to Fula villages and we think that it is
very important that we keep touch with villages such as this which are some way
off our “regular” area.
We then went to
Kani Kunda LBS where we met with the principal, Sainabou Sonka and were joined
by two members of the School Management Committee, both called Saidykhan – we
were in Wandifa’s home village. We discussed the proposal for the sinking of
the borehole by The Water Point mentioned in an earlier blog. They are very
keen for the project to proceed. One issue we will need to address is that they
would like 7 or 8 standpipes running off the tank, but the estimate only
provides for 5. We will see what we can negotiate.
We also had a look at some
of the furniture delivered to the school from the last container and how it is
being used.
To Wandifa’s
sister, Wonto Saidykhan’s compound next for a chat, some freshly picked
groundnuts and bananas ripe from the tree. For those who have never eaten a
fresh ripe banana, they really are sweeter and juicier than those that have
been transported from the tropics and ripened in the UK before being delivered
to supermarkets.
A brief visit
to Pakalanding UBS to pay some sponsorship fees and look at how the furniture delivered
was being used and then to our final call in Soma, the Soma Health Centre where
we were very pleased to donate some baby clothes. Included were some very small
hand-knitted baby hats suitable for premature babies, some hand-knitted jackets
and more conventional clothes such as baby-grows.
On the drive
back we made a short diversion for refreshments at Tendabar Nature Reserve.
Whilst there Yankuba spotted that the printed menu had a photograph with Pippa
in it taken on an earlier visit some years back. I will try and publish that
when I get back to the UK – it needs some enhancement.
The long drive
back went smoothly until we reached Brikama when we had to join the usual
smog-filled traffic jam from there back to the hotel.
An excellent
day out. For those who visit the Gambia and haven’t been there, I heartily
recommend going there. It is just so pleasantly different from the “usual”
areas.
The football kit with the principal, vice principal and the village leader
Wonto, Wandifa's sister (The baby is not hers!)
16 November 2016
Day 15
Wednesday
A short blog
today as we did relatively little by way of visiting schools and compounds.
Wandifa reported that Mo Lamin was still in hospital, but feeling a little
better.
As mentioned earlier
we are carrying out some microscopy workshops in February 2017 and have stored
a number of microscopes and ancillary kit at Linda’s house. To free that space
up we decided to move it all to The Gambia College in Brikama which is about 40
minutes’ drive away. Having it there already will make it simpler to have all
the kit checked and ready when we come back in February.
We also had a
chat with Nakalang Ceesay, the head of Science and Technology at the college
who is our liaison there, to start getting the details sorted. We also had some
spare maths text books brought over in an earlier visit and were pleased to
donate these to the Maths department.
We then visited
a few compounds to pay some fees and check reports, took fresh photos of our
students and presented a pencil case to a newly sponsored student.
Back to the
hotel via a supermarket to buy some toothpaste – (all the UK varieties can be
bought here as well as Pepsodent - for those of you who wonder where the yellow
went!), and some Walkers Ready Salted crisps.
At the
hotel Pippa and Wandifa spent some time going through their records of payments
made, reports etc. to make sure all was in order.
An early start
at 5.30 am tomorrow to go upcountry. We think it will take about 3½ hours to
get to our first destination.
No photos
today, alas.
15 November 2016
Day 14 -
Tuesday
We had planned
to go upcountry today, but Mo Lamin, Wandifa’s son had become ill again and
Wandifa, Mariama and he were at the hospital. We do hope he gets better soon.
So we changed
our plans and will go upcountry later in the week. We started with a brief
follow-up visit to Kotakala school where we went last week. Ebrima Cham hopes
to start the works we have paid for before we go back.
On then to
Nusrat Senior Secondary. This is one of the most highly respected senior secondary
schools in The Gambia. As well as taking photos of Pageant sponsored students
who are there, we were going to give prizes of tablets to the two Pageant
students who gained the highest marks of all our students in Grade 9 last year.
Our congratulations go to Mohammed Ansah and Kaddy Sowe.
On then to
Banjul. We went first to Unity Nursery where we have been many times before. As
ever the children are an absolute delight and the staff very enthusiastic,
dedicated and hard-working. The school is clearly successful as it has expanded
into newly-acquired premises on the other side of the road, whilst keeping the
original. The school will double in size. Each site will have three nursery
classes and has its own toilet facilities. At the moment the new site has only
two classes which have been well converted. A third classroom still needs to
have work done to make it usable, and the school hopes to have it ready by
September.
Next was St
Augustine’s Upper Basic to take some photos from where we were given directions
to find Banjul Methodist Lower Basic. This is a most imposing old building.
Above the main entrance is a sign from the past “Banjul Boys High School, 1921”.
After taking some photos of students we concluded our school visits for the day
at St Augustine’s Senior Secondary. We have one new student there, but we also
were after some information. We were anxious to trace one of Pageant’s most
able students, Francis, who had received a very good Grade 12, but we were
unable to find him. His phone went unanswered and a number of contacts from
previous schools, etc. also did not know how to find him. Fortunately, the
Principal found a student who knew where Francis lived. It turned out to be
very close to where we were and the Principal kindly allowed the student to
show us where he lived. We were thus reunited.
Back to the
hotel then where Abdoulie, Yankuba, Pippa and I spent a fruitful hour and a half
putting together some microscopy kits for workshops in schools to be delivered
by Wandifa, Yankuba and Abdoulie
Mohammed and Kaddy receiving their prizes
Day 13 Monday
After saying
goodbye to Regina and David at breakfast, Pippa and I set off to visit some
schools in the south west of The Gambia. The purpose of the visits was mainly to take
photos of our sponsored children, but in some cases to pay sponsorship monies.
It took just under an hour to get to the first school, St Francis. That school
has a Lower Basic and Upper Basic on the same site and a Senior Secondary a
short distance away. We had just brief visits to each and then on to Banyaka LBS
where we were met by Jerreh Manneh, the Principal.
Pageant has one
sponsored student at that school whom we met and then the discussion turned to
some funding we had received to spend at the school. Chestnut Grove Academy in
Balham, South London had raised the equivalent of 40,000 Dalasi and wanted it
to be spent directly on helping the children there, rather than on, say,
buildings. After discussion it was agreed to spend a small amount in marker
pens for teachers and the rest on exercise books for the students. There are
about 900 children at the school and this will be sufficient to buy about 3 for
each.
That school has
a large garden and we were pleased to donate some of the seeds donated by the
parents of Manor Green School.
On then to
Jambanjelly school. We are familiar with this school as we carried out science
workshops there in February this year and last. A quick visit and discussion
with the new Headteacher and on to Sifoe
school for our only disappointment of the day because the students who we
wanted to see were not there.
Next was St
Marks LBS in Sandali. This was a quite astonishing drive. We swung off the
highway onto what looked like a fairly narrow footpath. It was in face a narrow
drive. With bushes scraping the sides of the car Abdoulie drove superbly for
about 3 miles on very sandy tracks. Although we had to have the windows shut
because of the bushes, the car was filled with the most magnificent scent from
the shrubs – a bit like lemon balm.
A final visit
to Tujering Senior Secondary then the longish drive back to the hotel.
In the evening
we met Mr Drammeh, who was the Headteacher at SOS Senior Secondary until he
retired earlier this year. We have been trying to trace two of our most able
students who left that school in July. He was able to give us some information
that should enable us to re-establish contact.
13 November 2016
Day 12 Sunday
We spent the
day visiting compounds which are home to some of our friends in The Gambia.
We started at
Lang’s compound. Lang is 13 years old and Kathy and I sponsor him. We chatted
for some time and learned that the last book he read was “Animal Farm”. I think
we will bring him a few reading books when we come in February.
We then went to
Fatou and Ebrima’s compound. Fatou was the first student we sponsored in The
Gambia which was about 10 or 11 years ago. She is the same age as our daughter,
Helen and we have kept in touch all the time. Ebrima was sponsored by my father
until he died four years ago and we have continued to help him. Both are in
their mid-twenties now.
Ebrima is a
very industrious young man. He is a qualified electrician and has started his
own barbering shop, which he proudly showed us. As well as raising pigeons and
chickens he is also a keen gardener with very green fingers.
You may remember
reading in Pageant News (24 October 2016) that the parents of Manor Green
Primary School donated packets of seeds to Pageant from their Harvest Festival
celebrations. We gave a selection of those seeds to Ebrima who will grow
vegetables for all the people in the compound. We also gave him a couple of
packets of seeds bought in The Gambia to see how they grow compared with UK
seeds. We will check when we come in February. We have already given out some
packets of seeds and have some more to give out over the coming few days mainly
to schools
On then to
Fatou Lisa’s compound, an old friend from our days at The Atlantic Hotel where
she worked. Alhagie, her son was
sponsored by Ian and he is a very bright boy. He read to me and was word
perfect with a good understanding of some quite difficult words.
As a result of
donations received at Ian’s funeral in September, the Ian Howard Memorial
Scholarship has been set up and we were very pleased to award this to Alhagie.
His continuing education can therefore be assured.
We spent a very
pleasant couple of hours chatting and playing with the children and then returned
to the hotel. Tonight is David and Regina’s last night before they return to
the UK. They have been great fun whilst here and worked very hard. We will miss
them.
Ebrima with
seeds donated from Manor Green Primary School
Alhagie with
his scholarship certificate
Day 11 –
Saturday
Once a month on
Saturdays The Gambia has a day where the people have to clean and tidy their
neighbourhood which includes picking up and properly disposing of the
surrounding litter and rubbish. Today was such a day. To encourage people to do
this, all but essential traffic is banned from the roads until 1.30pm. We could
not therefore go out in the morning, so combined a bit of R&R with starting
to put together some microscopy kits for future use.
We had some microscopes
and equipment brought over in an earlier visit.
In the
afternoon we set off to Wandifa’s compound. We were very pleased to hear that
Mo Lamin was much better.
The purpose of
our visit was to inaugurate a small loan scheme for women living in a village
or local community. The scheme is designed to help women set up small businesses
and earn themselves a bit of money. In our scheme each of six women are lent
1,800 Dalasi for a period of six months with the loan repaid by monthly
instalments over that period. At the end of the six months all of the loans
should have been repaid and the total money is then available to lend to a new group.
Each of the women had to state what they were going to do. The ideas the women
had were generally of buying in bulk and selling in smaller quantities.
Examples of these include buying a sack of onions and selling in smaller
quantities, buying a sack of fertilizer and selling it in smaller quantities of
approximately ½ kilos and buying a large container of cooking oil and selling
it in ½ litre cups
.
Mariama,
Wandifa’s wife, is coordinating this and will be responsible for accounting and
collecting repayments which will be deposited in a bank account which will be
opened to handle this. We wish them every success.
Pippa had
brought over from the UK a good number of children’s clothes which had been
made by Esther and a group of her friends in Horsham. There were dresses for
the girls and shorts for the boys. All these had been home-sewn. A large number
of children suddenly appeared and the clothes were given a good home, matching
as far as possible sizes with the children. We are very grateful to all those involved
in their making.
I am having problems uploading photos today. I will try again later.
11 November 2016
Day 10 – Friday
A slightly
later start than anticipated because Wandifa’s eldest son, Mo Lamin had been
taken ill during the night and Wandifa had taken him, along with his mother
Mariama to the local hospital to see a doctor. We all hope he gets better soon.
Off then to
Kings Kids Academy, a school we have visited many times before and where we
have funded a number of projects. We were met by the proprietor, Bishop Dennis.
We attended a school assembly at which Bishop Dennis gave a short eulogy about
the work and dedication given by Ian to Pageant and the ways he had helped the
people of The Gambia. In honour of Ian a building in the school has been named
after him.
We then went on
to discuss projects. We had agreed to fund tiling in two classrooms. One had
been done but Bishop Dennis wanted to use the rest for something else. We were unable
to agree that then and asked him to provide us with a new project proposal with
costings. Bishop Dennis then showed us his long term plans for the school
involving major expansion. These plans will cost a large amount of money and
would take considerable time to complete.
We then went to
the offices of a company called The Water Point that specialises in drilling
boreholes for water
We are looking
at a project to drill such a borehole at Kani Kunda School which is way
upcountry. That school has no water at all in the school premises, not even a
well. The proposal is to drill a hole deep enough into the aquifers and then
pump the water up with an electric pump powered by solar energy. Needless to
say, the school has no mains electricity. The water would then be stored in a 4,000
litre tank which would automatically be replenished when used. Mr Touray from
the company had already supplied us with an estimate, but there were a number
of points in it which required clarification which he was able to do. We will
now go to the school next week to discuss this exciting project.
Being Friday,
we decided to have a short day. We stopped off at a bookshop appropriately
named “Timbooktoo”. We bought a few school books there and then went for a
drink at the Calypso Bar at Cape Point. The bar overlooks a lagoon lying between the beach and the land. It is
home to 20 or so crocodiles that can usually be seen basking on the far shore,
but there were few to be seen today. We did see a great display of fishing and
diving by a heron, some kingfishers and numerous other birds, small and large
none of which we knew the name of (no twitchers among us)!
Back then to
the hotel at about 3pm
10 November 2016
Days 8 and 9
Day 8 -
Wednesday
To the North
Bank today. A very early start. The kitchen staff kindly opened early so we
could get some breakfast before we left. In the cab and off to Banjul Port at
6.15am for the 7.00 ferry. A good crossing saw us in our cab at Barra, the port
on the North Bank, at 8.00.
The cab we had was exceptionally noisy and bumpy
particularly on the North Bank roads which are mostly untarmacked and made of
compacted sand with many potholes and ruts.
The North Bank
is very different from the South Bank. It is considerably poorer and the
villages and communities are fewer and farther apart.
After about one
and a quarter hours we reached Albreda Lower Basic school where we met with
Fafa Jobe, the head teacher, and the regional schools cluster coordinator. We
have carried out projects before at Albreda LBS (see PAGEANT Albreda page) and
were here to talk about new projects. Fafa kindly provided us with a breakfast
of bread and sardines.
The school has no mains electricity and wants a solar
installation; a panel and storage batteries. These would be used to power the
computers in the resource room and some security lighting for night time. One of the
issues we have is that the school already has 8 solar panels on the roof that
are not being used, along with some batteries that don’t work. We were told
that they could not be used because they belong to The Ministry rather than the
school and couldn’t be used without permission. Getting permission would be a
long process. Bureaucracy at large!
We handed over some money for projects
approved so that they could go ahead – the construction of a perimeter walls
and tiling of the teachers’ quarters. Albreda is so remote that the teachers
need to live on site. Fafa than told us of some further refurbishment projects
he would like to carry out.
We then went to
Bakary Saidykhan’s house in Juffreh. Bakary is Wandifa’s brother and is also
father to Ousman, who Kathy and I sponsor. We chatted and were kindly provided
with some lunch.
We then
returned to the port via Aja Fatou Bojang Senior Secondary School, Albreda
where we met with Ousman. We arrived at the port very tired, thirsty and dusty.
There was one
final treat in store. As we crossed the river a school of dolphins passed by.
There must have been at least 20 of them. Seeing them certainly helped make a
tiring but rewarding day.
Unfortunately,
no pictures today as I had a flat battery in the camera and had forgotten to
pack the spare. Sorry about that. Pippa will add some when we get back to the
UK.
Day 9 =Thursday
A quieter day.
We started by visiting 4 schools to welcome newly sponsored students and giving
them their pencil cases and taking their photos. We were also chasing up
missing reports. We do need the reports to check on progress.
We then went to
The Reach Centre, which I hadn’t been to before. On the campus there is a
school, a church, a hostel for young students, a study centre and a library.
I’ve not seen anything quite like this in The Gambia before. One of our
sponsored students lives there enabling easy travel to school.
On then to the
Lutheran Nursery and Lower Basic School. We ae funding a project there to
provide piped water from the mains into the school premises. Unfortunately, the
Water Board has not completed the final pipe work into the schools so we were
unable to sign off that project as completed.
We did talk about some other
possible projects including running water pipes further into the school to the
toilet block and paying for those toilets to be refurbished. Other possible
projects there to consider include now windows, as the existing ones are so
small that they let in very little light, and possibly some suspended ceilings
to provide heat installation.
More tomorrow…
The young
persons’ hostel at The Reach Centre
Lutheran Nursery and Lower Basic School
08 November 2016
Day 7
Off to Humanity
Nursery School which has a new site that we had not visited before although we
are well acquainted with the school at its old site and its energetic and
enthusiastic Head, Faks.
Faks showed us
round the school which has three classes, one for each year of nursey. He has done
a lot of work in a short time. Very good toilet facilities and with a shower to
put in.
He explained
his plans for this school. He wants to erect a new building to put a properly
equipped kitchen and then to pout a large canopy over part of the school yard
to give shade. Finally, he wants to concrete over part. All these seem like
very good ideas to us and we will take then away with us.
Off to the
North Bank tomorrow (hopefully)
Humanity
Nursery
07 November 2016
Days 5 & 6
Sunday.
We visited
Wandifa’s and Abdoulie’s compounds. This is the first time we have seen
Wandifa’s new family house that he spent nearly three years building. We last
saw it in February when it was obviously near completion and now Wandifa and
his family have moved in. It certainly is a great building with plenty of land
around. Wandifa is quite rightly very proud of it. There is a picture of it
below and we will post some more when we get back to the UK
In pride of
place in the garden is the orange tree planted in memory of Ian on the day of
his funeral and over the coming years we shall watch to see it grow and bear
fruit (which Wandifa tells me should be in about 3 years).
We sat in the
garden, chatted and played with the children and then went over to Abdoulie’s
compound for a very enjoyable time, again just chatting and admiring the
garden.
Back to
Wandifa’s where Mariama had prepared and cooked for us the most wonderful lunch.
A chicken benachin with chicken (obviously), rice and many different vegetables
including, in our honour, ordinary “British” potatoes – something of a rarity
in The Gambia unless served up as chips in a restaurant. We all sat down
together to eat this splendid meal.
Feeling quite
full, we then returned to the hotel. Our grateful thanks to Wandifa, Abdoulie
and their families for their hospitality.
The orange tree
planted in memory of Ian
The outside of
Wandifa’s new house
Monday
A day visiting
schools and compounds, mostly to pay fees and meet newly sponsored students,
who get presented with a filled pencil case and have their photos taken for
their sponsor.
Firstly, to SOS
Senior Secondary School to pay fees. This used to be a straightforward job of
handing over the right amount of cash and getting a receipt. It took about 10 –
15 minutes. It’s now a bit more time-consuming. You get an invoice and have to
go to a specified bank and pay the cash over, get the receipt and return to the
school with it. We also wanted to pay our sponsored student’s exam fees which are
payable separately. To do this you have to go to a bank (a different bank, of
course), pay the fee, in return for which you get a scratch-card, which you
take back to the school, where its number is used to confirm payment of the
student’s exam fees. It took about an hour and a half in total.
On then to the
exquisitely named Mrs Bucket’s Afrikanaria’s Nursery School. Yes, really! The
Headteacher named it because she was a great fan of the well-known sit-com
“Keeping up Appearances” and its star Patricia Routledge. We went there to meet
a newly-sponsored student.
The Head is a
delightfully enthusiastic and dynamic person and we would like to be able to
help the school. The most pressing problem is that in one corner of the school
playground there is a dump for scrapped parts of cars – doors, bonnets etc
which is not properly fenced-off. This is a real danger to the children as well
as an eyesore.
A couple more
visits, then back to the hotel
05 November 2016
Day 4
We woke this
morning to light rain. This is the first time I have seen rain in all my Gambia
visits, but it was very “British” rain rather than tropical so it made me quite
nostalgic!
We had a quiet
day. We went to Banjul, the capital city where we met two of our students in
further education. One of them, Modou, a medical student, is off to New York
City for a six-week placement as part of his training. He is clearly excited
about that.
We then went to
the Albert Market, a large sprawling market in the centre of Banjul. We were
after two things. Some large lidded plastic crates to pack microscopes and
associated kit for schools to have. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any
big enough, but there are plenty more places to try. We also were after some
small carved wooden elephants, hippos and giraffes to take back to the UK and
sell at a local school’s Christmas Fair. After some hard bargaining we struck a
fair deal and bought some. This is always good, because we help the Gambian
economy in some small way and then plough back any profits!
After a
refreshment stop, we visited a few compounds to pay fees and then back to the
hotel by which time the rain had cleared and it was hot and sunny.
No photo today,
but hopefully some good ones tomorrow.
04 November 2016
Day 3
An early start
to go to Gambia College in Brikama. Gambia College is part of the University of
the Gambia and is where their teachers are trained. We met with Mr Nakulang
Ceesay who is the Head of Science at the college. We discussed what had
happened following previous science and microscopy workshops that we had
carried out. Unfortunately, other partners in the project seem to have lost
interest. A party from Pageant will be coming in February 2017 and will carry
out some microscopy workshops. However, it looks as if that party will be smaller
than usual, so it was decided to do two workshops at the college for trainee
science teachers; a formula that has worked well in the past.
We then made
short visits to a couple of schools in the area and then on to Brikama Nema
Nursery and Lower Basic School. Pageant has not visited that school before, but
we sent a batch of school and office furniture from the container sent over in
the summer. The Headteacher was very delighted with what she had received as
the school had ben desperately short of furniture. We had hoped to see the
nursery classes in action, but it was nearing Friday lunchtime and the nursery
children had gone home. Many schools are closed on Friday afternoons. We will
go back there later in our visit
We decided it
was time for lunch too so went off to Lamin Lodge. Lamin Lodge is a building
which is built on poles and stands in the water of the Gambia River in the middle
of the mangrove forests. There is a restaurant at the top with stunning views,
but you usually have to be wary of the monkeys who will come and steal your
food given half the chance!
After lunch a
visit to the compound of a newly-sponsored child to give him a filled pencil
case and take his photo. Then back to the hotel for some late afternoon R&R.
A classroom at
Brikama Nema with furniture from the Pageant container
03 November 2016
Day 2
Off to Kotakula
Nursery and Lower Basic School on a very hot day where we were met by Ebrima
Cham, the administrator. We had a good
look at the tiling work that had been carried out and agreed it was to a very
high standard. We agreed to fund the installation of some ceilings for
classrooms that had only a bare corrugated-iron roof. Putting in ceilings
provides much needed insulation against the heat. We also discussed tiling the
library and improving the playground facilities. We asked for a feasibility study
into repairing and improving the solar power installations,
A tour of the
classrooms followed where we were greeted enthusiastically by all the children, then an impromptu dance in the playground. Pippa danced brilliantly – see the
picture below.
On then to Din
Ding Nursery school which Pageant hasn’t been to before. This school is funded
and helped by a Dutch charity. We went there as a student newly sponsored by a Pageant
member went there.
We then went to a
few compounds to deliver sponsorship money for students and after that to the offices of a company that specialises in providing deep bore holes to discuss the
installation of a one with associated pipework at a school with very poor water
facilities.
Tomorrow we are
leaving early to go to Gambia College which is in Brikama and then hope to
visit Lamin Lodge on our way back after several other visits
02 November 2016
Day 1
After a refreshing sleep following the journey yesterday,
Wandifa, Abdoulie and Yankuba arrived for a morning of administrative work.
Pippa’s spreadsheets were examined and marked up for payments of sponsorship
monies paid and checking that the necessary school reports had, or had not been
received. We then roughly sketched out what we had to do during the following
days. This is of course, necessary planning to ensure that everything is
covered. Here’s the team at work.
More tomorrow/ I hope
More tomorrow/ I hope
